Here comes April.......dont let us down

[trowelfodder]

With the new finantial year approaching this is a plee that last years distasterous delay by county council units does not happen again!!

Last year a concession allowed ex/county counicl units to not update pay imediatley and pay back-pay after an agreement had been reached.

This was not entirely successful as units (who shall remain nameless) did eventually pay the backpay to staff members who were still with the company but refused to pay any of the staff who had left before the date they decided to pay staff - in one case this was as little as a week.

There was no easy legal recourse to this as it falls within a grey area of employment law and the staff lost out. So please please can we not have this happen this year - too many of us are on short term contracts to loose out again

[voice of reason]

Unlikely to be any different this year unless pay award already agreed. It's not a "concession" for Council-based units. All Council employees work on same terms and conditions, so they won't be allowed to pay some people (eg Archaeologists) a rise in April and not others (eg Careworkers) until pay award agreed and implemented.

[BAJR Host]

One hopes though that an agreement to pay people their backpay can be agreed... in fact I am tempted to make that recomendation to all 'Council' employers who advertise on BAJR - they would have to agree to backpay - otherwise the pay rates will be too low for advertising. Hmmm... its a thought... it does mean people are at least all getting paid a minimum!


"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu

[trowelfodder]

Please, please do - it would take out a lot of hastle at a later date if units were forced to sign a letter promising that back dated pay will be payed to all employees including those who have left.

Despite promises to the contary last year and as there was no written evidence of the promise and when back pay was requested a curt letter was recieved stating that it is not the units policy to pay back pay to ex-employees. Lets cut out this grey area so at leastif the situation arrises again then there is something in place.

It would also be a good idea if the ifa contaced all RAOs to get an agreement with them on backpay as a preemptive strike as last year the ifa were not in the slightest bit interested in the problem and said it was not their problem

[voice of reason]

I don't mean to keep being negative, but I can't see many Councils being willing to allow their staff to sign such a letter giving such an undertaking, given it would create a potential precedent for other departments and staff.

It is correct to say it is not the IFA's problem. It is not a trade union, despite some people's attempts to make it act like one, including many who aren't even members. Why not join Unison during the time you work for a Council? You could then use them to militate on your behalf.

[BAJR Host]

If a council unit can't pay the rates.. then .... the words pay award pending (although true) is misleading... as it should read.. pay award pending, but if it pends too long you ain't going to see a penny.....

Perhaps a 'Health Warning'

The IFA won't get involved, they/we make recomendations, but can't actually force RAOs to a wage structure... though being an RAO does have conditions of 'membership'.

I will add this to the consultation document


"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu

[kevin wooldridge]

quote:Originally posted by voice of reason
Unlikely to be any different this year unless pay award already agreed. It's not a "concession" for Council-based units. All Council employees work on same terms and conditions, so they won't be allowed to pay some people (eg Archaeologists) a rise in April and not others (eg Careworkers) until pay award agreed and implemented.

'All Council employees work on same terms and conditions' Oh, if only that were true.

From what I hear around the nation, there are a considerable number of archaeologists, who although employed by local authority bodies, will not be receiving the full local authority pay agreement this year.

Once again this exposes the flaws in the IFA tie-in to LA pay grades.

[voice of reason]

Can you expand your enigmatic statement about non-implementation of LA award by 'local authority bodies'? The Unison claim (for a frankly unachievable 6%) has only just gone in, let alone be discussed, so how people can say they aren't implementing it is a puzzle to me. The government default public sector position is 2%, so LA employers presumably will settle at 2.4-2.5%.

for details of Unison claim see: http://www.durham.gov.uk/unison/usp.nsf/...rnment+Pay

[Oxbeast]

Very curious, Mr Wooldridge. Does this mean that these people didn't get last years 2.475% either? The negotiations last year took six months, and there seems to be no reason to expect it to be much quicker.

[BAJR Host]

Many people who worked for LAs but were not working for them when the pay deal was agreed... did not get backpay.

I don't know about what Kevin is saying.

"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu